Mohammedan, Sonali in semis

Mohammedan forward Ariful Haque Prince (L) scores his second goal against Mariner Youngs during their Brac Bank Club Cup hockey tournament clash at the Moulana Bhasani National Hockey Stadium yesterday.Photo: STAR

Ariful Haque Prince led from the front to take Mohammedan Sporting Club into the semifinals of the Brac Bank Club Cup hockey tournament at the Maulana Bhasani National Stadium yesterday.
The experienced striker scored in each half as the popular Black and Whites defeated Mariner Youngs Club by 2-1 goals to secure their second win in three matches. The Motijheel outfit earlier shared points in their first Group A game against Sadharan Bima, but they still reached the semifinals as group champions.
On the other hand, Sonali Bank bounced back strongly from their defeat against Mohammedan in the previous match to book their seat in the semifinals from the same group when they outclassed Bima 6-1 in the day's first game at the same venue.
From Group B, Abahani and Usha Krira Chakra have already confirmed the semifinal berths and meet today in the last group match at 4pm.
Back to the day's match, a relatively young Mohammedan side took a 1-0 lead in the first-half through a 12th minute strike by captain Prince.
Prince converted a penalty corner after his side spoiled two attempts within two minutes.
After the breather, Mohammedan kept the pressure on their opponents and earned three penalty corners but none could the capitalised on. But Prince hit the board in the 44th minute to double the margin.
It was too late for Mariners to come back in the match when they pulled one goal back just before the final whistle.
In the other match, Asaduzzaman Chandan struck thrice and Iqbal Nader added two after Ripon Kumar put them ahead in the third minute to give Sonali Bank a comfortable victory in their last group match.
It was the bankers' second win in three games as they thrashed Mariners 7-0 before losing the previous match against Mohammedan.
The winners all but confirmed their victory in the first-half when they dominated the session by 4-0.
Shuvo Kumar netted only the goal for Biman in the 52nd minute.